Ana de Armas is a Delicious and Deviant Baroness One Loves to Hate in Eden

Have you ever heard of an island called Floreana or the people who mysteriously went missing?  Based on historical events, this scintillating thriller from Oscar-winning director Ron Howard  examines Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Law) and his partner Dora Strauch (Kirby) after fleeing Germany in 1929, repudiating the bourgeois values they believed were corroding mankind’s true nature. On the isle of Floreana, Friedrich felt he could focus on writing his manifesto, while Dora resolves to cure her multiple sclerosis through meditation. Their hard-won solitude, however, is short lived.

Joined by Margaret (Sydney Sweeney) and Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Bruehl), who prove to be earnest, capable settlers, shortly followed by Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas) a self-described Baroness and the “embodiment of perfection,”  the couple gains more company and drama than they bargained for. the Baroness arrives with two devoted lovers, an Ecuadorian servant, a wardrobe full of evening gowns planning to erect a luxury hotel. Between inclement weather, unruly wildlife and lack of amenities, all three groups find life on Floreana arduous at best, but nothing will test them more than the challenge of coexisting with desperate neighbors capable of theft, deception, and worse.

Noah Pink’s ingenious screenplay offers intrigue, suspense, and keen insights into the pitfalls of idealistic arrogance.  Although this top notch cast resoundingly roars through every syllable and sentence, it’s the women who stand out.  Kirby and Sweeney have mastered the art of inhabiting characters in such a manner that the audiences can fill in the dialogue with one of their unspoken glances or soft spoken exchanges.  When these women get quiet, you better watch out.  On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is de Armas, whose seductive, eccentric, conniving  Baroness is deliciously deviant.  Audiences will cheer and jeer her all at once.  As intense as this subject matter is, the film is surprisingly humorous – most of which arrives when de Armas hits the screen.  You kinda live to hate her, especially as she invokes a Marilyn-eque number at dinner singing an old Josephine Baker tune to seduce all the men in attendance.

The costumes and production design are stellar with breathtaking aerial shots placing the audience right in the center of the action. But, most compelling of all is how when cornered, humans will turn on each other for sheer survival not caring who gets hurt in the process.  As the mystery of what happened on this island unfolds, it has been suggested that the Baroness & Phillipson may have been murdered by her other spurned and mistreated lover Lorenz. Why was Lorenz discovered washed up on Marchena Island, so far from his planned destination? And why did Ritter die so soon afterward under suspicious circumstances? Coincidences or something more sinister?

In truth, we are unlikely ever to know as Margaret Wittmer passed away in 2000 and was the last living person who could have solved the incredible Galapago mystery. With no Galapagos CSI to investigate it seems that what occurred will remain an unsolved mystery. Until then, Howard has provided us with a juicy recount of how circumstances many have unfolded and it certainly makes for some great island CLUE mystery filmmaking.Eden is proof all the glitters is certainly not gold and that those riches can become tarnished in one way or another for a moment or for  eternity.